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to secure the bankrupt’s lands and elFects, 
for the satisfaction of his creditors. 
Commissioners, Lords, of the Admiralty, 
are five or seven persons appointed by the 
crown for executing the office of Lord 
High Admiral, to whose jurisdiction all ma- 
ritime affairs are entrusted. See Admi- 
ralty COURT. 
Commissioners of the Navy, officers 
appointed to superintend the affairs of the 
marine, under the direction of the Lords of 
the Admiralty. Their duty is more imme- 
diately concerned in tlie buifding and re- 
pairing ships : they have also the appoint- 
ment of certain officers. 
COMMITMENT, in law, the sending of 
a person charged with some crime to prison, 
by warrant or order. A commitment may 
be made by the King and council, by the 
judges of the law, the justices of peace, or 
other magistrate, who have authority by the 
law's and statutes of the realm so to do. 
Every commitment should be made by 
warrant under the hand and seal of the 
party committing, and the cause of commit- 
ment is to be expressed in the warrant. 
The terms of it must also require the cri- 
minal to be kept in custody till discharged 
according to due course of law', &c. Mdiere- 
soever a constable or person may justify the 
arresting another for a felony, or treason, he 
may justify the sending him or bringing him 
to the common gaol. But it is most advise- 
able, for any private person who arrests 
another for felony, to cause him to be 
brouglit as soon as possible before some 
justice of peace, tliat he may be committed 
or bailed by him. The Privy -council, or 
any two of them, or a Secretary of State, 
may lawfully commit persons for treason, 
and for other offences against the state. All 
felons shall be committed to the common 
gaol, and not elsewhere. 5 Hen. IV. c. 10. 
But vagrants and other criminals, offenders, 
and persons charged witli small offences, 
may, for such offences, or for want of 
sureties, be committed either to the com- 
mon gaol or house of correction, as the 
justices in their judgment shall think proper. 
6 G. c. 19. All persons who are appre- 
hended for offences not bailable, and those 
W'ho neglect to offer bail for offences which 
are bailable, must be committed; and 
wheresoever a justice of peace is empower- 
ed to bind a person over, or to cause him to 
do a certain.thing, Ije may commit him, if 
in his presence he shall refuse to be so 
bound, or do such a thing. A commitment 
must be in writing, either in the name of 
COM 
the king, and only tested by the person 
who makes it; or it may be made by such 
person in his own name, expressing his office 
or authority, and must be directed to the 
gaoler or keeper of the prison. The com- 
mitment should contain the name and sur- 
name of the party committed, if known ; if 
not known, it may be sufficient to describe 
the person by his age, &c. and to add, that 
he refuses to tell his name. It ought to 
contain the cause, as for treason or felony, 
or suspicion thereof; and also the special 
nature of the felony, briefly, as for felony, 
for the death of such an one, or for burglary, 
ill breaking the house of such an one. All 
commitments grounded on acts of parlia- 
ment ought to be eonformable to the me- 
thod prescribed by them. And where a 
statute appoints imprisonment, but does 
not limit the time, in such case the prisoner 
must remain at the discretion of the court. 
If the gaoler shall refuse to receive a felon, 
or take any thing for receiving him, he shall 
be punished for the same by the justices of 
gaol delivery. But no person can justify 
the detaining a prisoner in custody, out of 
the common gaol, unless there be some par- 
ticular reason for so doing ; as if the party 
should be so dangerously ill, that it would 
apparently hazard his life to send him to 
gaol, or that there be evident danger of a 
rescue from rebels, or the like. The sheriff 
or gaoler shall certify the commitment to 
the next gaol delivery. 
Commitment discharged. A person le- 
gally eominitted for a crime, certainly ap- 
pearing to have been done by some person 
or other, cannot be lawfully discharged but 
by the king, till he be acquitted upon his 
trial, or have an \gnoramus found by the 
grand jury, or none shall prosecute liim, on 
a proclamation for that purpose by the jus- 
tices of gaol delivery. 
COMMITTEE if Parliament, a certain 
number of members appointed by the House 
for the examination of a bill, making report 
of an inquiry, process of the house, &c. 
When a Parliament is called, and the speaker 
and members have taken the oaths, there 
are committees appointed to sit on certain 
days, viz. the committee of privileges and 
elections, of religion, of trade, &c. which 
are standing committees. Sometimes the 
whole House resolves itself into a commit- 
tee, on which occasion each person has a 
right to speak and reply as often as he 
pleases, which is not the case when a house 
is not in a committee. 
COMMODORE, in maritime affairs, an 
